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How To

Spirit offers a far from glamorous flying experience, but its no-frills service approach isn’t exactly the reason why the airline so reviled. Its flight crews and staff are helpful and competent and pretty kind, while the carrier’s operational reliability is just about in line with everyone else in the industry. Its fleet is even the youngest in North America! Spirit is fine — definitely no more awful than its legacy competitors like American, Delta, and United — and its fares are markedly cheaper. “How does the airline make money?” you might wonder. Easy: its notorious fees make profit margins skyrocket. You definitely wouldn’t be the first to scream “Spirit sucks!” as your expenses balloon and frustrations mount… but you don’t have to suffer this fate.

The key to happiness, some say, is to keep low expectations. You may agree with that sentiment, you may not, but when you’re planning a trip on Spirit, it definitely helps to have that frame of mind. Its tickets, which are (affectionately?) referred to as “bare fares,” are just that: means for you to get from point A to point B. You’ll have to pay extra for everything that you might possibly want on a plane — including drinking water — but if you know what you’re getting in to, you’ll tolerate Spirit at the minimum. If you can play its game and avoid making some far-too-common mistakes, you’ll easily save a lot more than what you would on a legacy carrier. Your fatter wallet alone can be worth those frustrating, tacked-on fees, and while the travel experience itself is far from perfect, who cares at prices like these? #FlyHigher indeed.

In the Beginner’s Guide and throughout The Higher Flyer, I stress the importance of maintaining a good credit score. Everyone should have at least a 675, because without that, you won’t be approved for the cards required to earn lots of redeemable miles and points. Such a standard is pretty high already, and if you’re a student, you might not have a credit score at all. While that might seem problematic — how could you possibly get approved for a credit card? — you shouldn’t be discouraged. It’s entirely possible to build a score high enough to get you higher flying within a year.

As I write in the Beginner’s Guide, it’s quite difficult to fly higher without the assistance of credit cards; through signing bonuses and daily spend, you can earn a significant number of points which you can then use for travel redemptions. To have access to the best ones, you should have a credit score of at least 675, which, all things considered, is high. If your credit score isn’t at that level, don’t worry, because that won’t stop you from becoming a higher flyer. There are just some steps that you need to take before you try to enter the world of miles and points. I outline below what to do in order to get started with higher flyer credit cards.

About The Higher Flyer

Established in August 2016, The Higher Flyer has been committed to helping its readers understand how airline, hotel, and bank loyalty programs work. With special focus given to frequent flyer miles and reward points, the posts and pages of this website explore the ways in which they can be redeemed for top-of-the-line experiences. Some know-how, creative thinking, and discipline can turn anyone into an elite traveler: a higher flyer. Need more help? Professional consulting services are available at the companion site: THF Consulting.

THF’s Advertising Disclosure

Everything on this website is my, Paul Colins’s, unbiased work. I do not receive any special or unusual funding or compensation from airlines, hotels, banks, or any other third party. All of the writing is my own, just as my commentary is independent of anyone/anything other than myself and what I have experienced personally.

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THF Disclosure

The Higher Flyer is owned jointly by Paul Colins and The Higher Flyer, LLC. The sole and exclusive purpose of this website (i.e. thehigherflyer.org) is to entertain. The owners are not, and do not claim to be, travel agents, journalists, or certified financial planners. The published writings here are general in scope, and should not be directly applied to any one individual circumstance. Please be sure of your own financial situation before attempting to become a “higher flyer,” as the owners cannot be liable for your actions.